On track: Eurostar wins bank backing in train row

The European Investment Bank has given conditional backing to Eurostar’s controversial decision to buy German over French trains

Eurostar's choice of Siemens trains has angered French firm Alstom (Lennart Preiss)
Eurostar’s controversial decision to buy German trains has received
conditional backing from the European Investment Bank.

The bank’s directors voted to approve financing for the deal on Thursday.

They said, however, that the money would not be forthcoming unless the
Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), the Anglo-French body that runs the
Channel tunnel, agreed the trains were safe.

France is vehemently opposed to the choice of the Siemens trains rather than
ones from French manufacturer Alstom.

Tomorrow Alstom will try to persuade the High Court to block the purchase,
claiming Eurostar’s procurement process was flawed. The case is expected to
last two days.

Alstom says Eurostar’s decision is unlawful as current Channel tunnel rules do
not allow trains with “distributed” power — that is, motors under carriages
rather than power cars at each end.

Eurostar said the tender was run correctly. “[Alstom] raised no issue until
very recently after it had lost the